The Demons Told Me to Make This Game is a nonlinear narrative adventure about horrifying monsters and the humans who are even worse.

You play as Dark Wisp, a disembodied spirit summoned to guide a crew of amateur exorcists through a demonic invasion of a Midwestern town. Unable to interact with the physical world directly, you’ll rely on your powers instead:

• Possession — take over one exorcist at a time, whispering thoughts into their minds.

• Time Manipulation — Rewind time to change the outcome of events.

Your hosts aren’t exactly thrilled to hear a voice in their heads. As you make them relive the same events again and again, they’ll resist and rebel. You’ll have to experiment — and make them do unspeakable things — to find out what’s really happening in Red Hives.

TDTMTMTG revolves around solving a series of time loops. Your goal is to ensure all hosts survive every segment of the loop.

Loops are broken down into time segments — small chunks to help you experiment with their interconnected events. In each segment, you’ll choose which host to possess and follow. Others are left to their own devices and will often make impressively bad decisions. Hosts don’t remember the events of past loops (but they slowly start growing suspicions).

To piece together what you need to happen for hosts to survive, you’ll have to see events from different perspectives, and make people do various (often unpleasant) things. The actions your hosts take in one segment will reverberate down the line. Dispose of a host earlier in the loop to see how the events are changed. Use your newfound knowledge to go back and try again.

Once you’ve found the perfect sequence of events, the loop is closed, and the story moves forward.

Sadly, your hosts are more than just walking meatbags. You can’t outright control what they do or say. 

Each host has a unique, somewhat strong personality. Gum is bad at socializing, perpetually tense, and doesn't trust anyone other than herself; Tape is a super chill people pleaser with zero trust issues. Making them do what needs to be done requires finesse and patience, as well as complete disregard for their well-being.

Be their best friend. Be their worst bully. Cheer for them. Mock them. Take advantage of their deepest fears and anxieties. The hosts may not always listen, but they will always hear you. And even if reasoning with them fails, you can always play a mini-game to hijack their brains. 

To close the time loop, you’ll have to make your hosts do terrible things that go against their very nature.

Come on, kick that annoying old lady. You know you want it. It’s okay. Just do it.

Red Hives may look like a small, dying town where nothing ever happens, but don't let the looks deceive you. The history of this place is riddled with terrible tragedies and things way worse than demons lurk in its shadows.

The only ones standing against the darkness are a ragged crew of exorcists. Brave but hopelessly unprepared for what they face. Fortunately, they have you. As you guide them, bending wills and shaping fates, one question lingers: whose side are you really on?

TO SUM IT UP:

The Demons Told Me to Make This Game is…

• A narrative adventure where you play as a mischievous spirit travelling through a time loop and possessing people in the middle of a demonic invasion.

• A conversation-driven game inspired by Disco Elysium and Slay the Princess where you influence your host’s actions through dialogue, intimidation, intrusive thoughts, and the occasional mini-game.

• A time-loop puzzle that relies on trial and error, breaking loops into segments you have to experiment with and shape into the correct sequence of events.

• A horror story set in a crumbling Midwestern town where demons are terrifying but the town’s deeper secrets are even worse.